Survey to Identify and Evaluate Indian Sacred Sites and Traditional Cultural Properties in the Twin Cities Metropolitan Area
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This exhibit containing copyrighted material has been marked in accordance with the NRC's Adjudicatory Submission Users Guide UNITED STATES OF AMERICA NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION ATOMIC SAFETY AND LICENSING BOARD In the Matter of Docket No. 40-9075-MLA POWERTECH USA, INC. ASLBP No. 10-898-02-MLA-BD01 (Dewey-Burdock In Situ Uranium Recovery Facility) Hearing Exhibit Exhibit Number: Exhibit Title: This document contains full-text copyrighted material Survey to Identify and Evaluate Indian Sacred Sites and Traditional Cultural Properties in the Twin Cities Metropolitan Area Final Report Revised 08/2010 Principal Investigator: Kelly M. Branam, Ph.D., Saint Cloud State University Team/Additional Authors (in Alphabetical Order): Kathleen Costello, Ph.D. Candidate, Indiana University Benjamin Gessner, CRM Master’s Student, Saint Cloud State University Austin Jenkins, CRM Master’s Student, Saint Cloud State University This project was funded by the Minnesota Arts and Cultural Heritage Fund as part of the Statewide Survey of Historical and Archaeological Sites. Introduction Historic and cultural resources are identified and evaluated by State Agencies for various reasons and in compliance with various federal laws and mandates. American Indian sacred places have often been misunderstood or identified without early and meaningful consultation with those communities which hold them as sacred. In Minnesota, State agencies, sometimes departments within each agency, may have a particular ‘best management’ policy for identifying historic and cultural resources. These policies have often not included discussions of sacred places or define the approach to be taken towards sacred sites within frameworks developed around the federal definition of Traditional Cultural Property (TCP) as outlined in National Register Bulletin 38. These inconsistencies suggest that a commonly implemented state-wide system for identifying Native American sacred sites is needed. The primary goal of this project is to create a process, a state-wide system, through which an inventory of American Indian sacred and important sites can take place in Minnesota. Identifying such sites will aid in their management and protection. The process outlined here includes two survey forms and databases which reflect the processes through which the inventory information should be collected. In order to accomplish these primary goals the team conducted ethnographic consultations to specifically examine Dakota communities’ relationships with sacred sites and their experiences working with other identification and management processes dictated by federal laws or mandates. In addition, the ethnographic research resulted in definitions of the concepts of “sacred” and “community” as they are conceived by the people consulted in the course of this investigation. These definitions based in ethnographic investigation are meant to better facilitate the relationships agents documenting and evaluating sites for agencies have with the people who hold sites to be sacred. During the course of this project the investigators met and interviewed Dakota Elders and cultural knowledge keepers from disparate communities, including federally recognized tribes across the state, communities of Indian descent from non-federally recognized tribes, urban community members, and leaders of nonprofit organizations. All of these individuals, and the communities from which they come, are stakeholders in the treatment of sacred sites in the Metro area. In addition, the team interviewed archaeologists and cultural anthropologists who are invested in preservation of sacred sites through meaningful consultation with the indigenous communities for whom these sites have meaning. The team analyzed forms and processes that have been developed to identify and preserve Native traditional use sites and sacred places. During ethnographic consultation, the researchers examined Dakota communities’ understanding of landscape, place, sacredness, and access to ‘public’ land. Further, the team examined and critiqued cultural resource management (CRM) processes which show a preference for process rather than meaningful consultation. Within this report, the definition of community is examined, expanded upon, and clarified. The scope of this project was limited to Dakota communities and to the Twin Cities Metro area. However, first and foremost on the list of recommendations is that this process continues to be developed with Anishinaabe and other Indian communities throughout the state of Minnesota, and to continue to investigate how these processes can and 2 should be applied in the future to other stakeholder communities order to understand the unique concerns and perspectives that each community may have. The results of this investigation show a sacred site need not meet the federal definition of TCP. Sacredness is relational and interactive and therefore can never be assumed to be diminished due to the intrusion of modernity. In fact, recognition of current communities’ relationships with sacred sites, not merely historical relationships, is what defines a place as important as well as what signifies a place as a sacred site. The ethnographic investigation discussed here shows that Dakota communities’ have serious concerns with this proposed process and other CRM methods for site identification, documentation, and evaluation. • One worry for many consultants is that any process may give outsiders too much power in determining what is really sacred and what happens to sites. It was repeatedly articulated to the research team that if this process is used to create a state-wide inventory, it could be used as a limiting device to define what is sacred and a limiting device of defining what should be considered for protection. • Another concern is the issue of access and education. Dakota access to their sacred places is not always guaranteed, people are not aware they may have that access, or this access has been interrupted through exile. How an evaluation will enhance or inhibit access is a matter of concern to consultants. • Another issue for various people is tied to the education of Minnesotans in order that they better understand Dakota history, including their forced removal and exile, and how those events continue to affect perceptions of Dakota and non-Dakota. • Finally, consultants are concerned about what ‘consideration for management purposes’ means. If protection or preservation is not an end to this process and these sites may only be considered before they are destroyed, many consultants stated that the risks of sharing sensitive information may be greater than the protection any process might provide. With these concerns in mind, the team has developed two processes, one for an inventory and the second to supplement any inventory that takes place, both are similar to other CRM processes and both favor meaningful and thorough consultation with multiple communities. This report provides a framework for what community consultation and involvement should look like. It also provides guidance and recommendations for the next steps in developing this process. Specifically, this report recommends the development of a permanent position in the form of a state agent who is knowledgeable of needs and dynamics of communities around the state and who can oversee the maintenance of the inventory and the creation and implementation of workshops and other training support for Agencies and CRM professionals. The success of a statewide-system for documentation of sacred sites relies on support from state agencies, academic institutions, and education of CRM professionals regarding sacred sites. Crucially, it 3 also requires meaningful consultation with stakeholder communities. With this support, and through the continued development of this process, it is the team’s intention that Minnesota, will continue to grow and develop as a model for responsible, engaged, and ethical management of space. Discussion of Goals Primary Goal The primary goal of this project was to create a process to inventory American Indian sacred sites throughout Minnesota in order that they be considered for management and protection. This report provides a discussion of this proposed process. The process includes the following: • An Access database that can be used to record documented sites. • A Geodatabase that can be used to record documented sites. • A site inventory form that community members, scholars and state agencies can use to document sacred sites. This form is to be used in conjunction with the databases. • A narrative predictive model for identifying sacred sites in the landscape. This model attempts to provide a framework for seeing landscape and the possibility of significant sacred sites within it from a Native, particularly Dakota, point of view. The long term goal of this model is to alert professionals to the possibility of important places warranting further investigation in the course of site surveys. • A related protocol and accompanying form for documenting sacred or significant sites, employing the predictive model. This form is to be used in conjunction with the databases and is intended to be used by cultural resource management investigators who carry out site surveys prior to any development work. All forms and databases were created in consultation of the 2005 “State Historic Preservation Office Manual for Archaeological Projects in Minnesota” so that these forms would work in relation with and be compatible with other CRM methodology.